Beware! Religious Performance Now Showing, Part 3

Today from Chuck Swindoll, a warning about the dangers of hypocrisy. When our devotion becomes a performance, we lapse into hypocrisy. You know what? Only you know. If you are self-aware, you will know, I'll not be doing this. I'm going to stop doing this. But when our devotion becomes a performance, we lapse into hypocrisy.

Even though we may not literally have a mask, we're faking it. Today on Insight for Living, Chuck Swindoll helps us face this bold and convicting teaching from Jesus. In the event you missed any portion of Chuck's presentation, we'll begin today with a helpful summary. Chuck titled this study in Matthew 6, Beware, Religious Performance Now Showing. Jesus' words are very logical. It begins with giving, and I've marked that in a bright color in my Bible so I won't overlook it. I've marked when you pray in verse 5, and I've marked when you fast in verse 16. Interestingly, following each of those settings, he adds, do not do something. Verse 2, when you give to the poor, don't sound a trumpet as the hypocrites do in the synagogue and in the streets so that they may be seen.

They may be honored by others. Don't do that. Don't do that. In fact, there are several do nots.

Do not do that. Verse 2, do not let your left hand know what the right hand is doing. Verse 3, do not pray using meaningless verbiage. Verse 7, verse 8, do not be like the Pharisees. In fact, he says in verse 16, when you fast, don't walk around in tattered, dirty clothes, making people, oh my, how much he's been giving up.

Please. We'll know by your life if you're sacrificial. We're not looking at your clothing.

Jesus certainly didn't. We're looking at the heart. So, now, let's go to this matter of giving and let's analyze it a little bit more carefully, because I don't want you to get the wrong impression. He's not against giving.

Please. God's work is supported by God's people, not by unbelievers, nor should it be. And we who are God's people participate in the financial support of his work. We who have hearts for the poor give to the poor.

It's just part of being a believer in Christ. If it is to be done to get our name etched in bronze, or our picture on some wall, or an announcement made that so-and-so gave so much, that's all a part of what this is about. Don't sound a trumpet. And I say this to all of you, whatever may be your status financially, and I give thanks for every one of you who gives with the right motive. But I warn all of us about that motive.

Why? Look closely. The repeated statement, verse 4, your father who sees what is done in secret. The original simply says, your father who sees in secret.

And that's not the only time. Verse 6, your father who sees in secret. Verse 18 closes, your father who sees what is done in secret.

When you see something repeated like that, listen, look, believe it. In the margin of your Bible you could write Hebrews 4, 13, which says, among other things, all things are naked and laid bare before the eyes of him with whom we have to do. You live your life naked before God. There is no such thing as a hidden sin.

There is no such thing as an unspoken motive. He sees and hears it all. See, you can't fake it. You can't act like you're a little more holy, which is an impossibility, than someone else. You're either holy or you're not. And giving publicly, well, that's all the reward. The father who sees in secret would love in secret to reward you, and he does. Those of you who give and often give sacrificially, and I tell you, I haven't the words to describe my gratitude for you.

It's not important. My gratitude is the father's delight in you. You have rewards that you can't even put into words. You have a great sense that a need has been met, and you were able to participate in that. You have the joy of realizing that your occupation provided you with a sufficient amount that you could give to this, and you hear the results and you just are so grateful. That's a reward, not to mention rewards awaiting you. Your father who sees in secret is ready to take note of that. In fact, look at verse 3. It's so secret your left hand doesn't even know the right hand's about to do that.

It's kind of a rundown. When you give, don't display it. When you give, don't keep remembering it. When you can, do it anonymously, and always do it with purity of motive.

That's what verses 2, 3, and 4 are teaching. Your giving, which is done in secret, will be seen in secret. I love the way one man writes this. The only reward any gracious giver wants is seeing the need met. The situation relieved, the naked clothed, the sick healed.

The disabled encouraged, the building built and furnished. The broken mended, the lost saved, the forgotten found. The wayward and disobedient restored to wholeness and dignity. Such acts of generous love and action bring with them their very own private rewards.

It doesn't get better than that. So it is forgiving. Now we're ready for the second one, which is even more convicting. Beginning at verse 5, when you pray, look at what it says. You are not to be like the hypocrites. John Stott writes this about the hypocrites. In classical Greek, the Hippocrates was first an orator and then an actor. So figuratively, the word came to be applied to anybody who treats the world as a stage on which he plays a part. He lays aside his true identity and assumes a false one. He's no longer himself, but in disguise, impersonating somebody else. He wears a mask, and Stott clarifies it. Now in a theater, there's no harm or deceit in actors playing their parts.

It is an accepted convention. The audience knows that they have come to a drama. They are not taken in by it. The trouble with the religious hypocrite, on the other hand, is that he deliberately sets out to deceive people. And there's a lot of that that goes on.

I want to speak to my fellow minister friends who are hearing me right now. Some in this audience and some in an audience later on. We have to guard against this kind of hypocrisy stuff. Deliberately. We have people trusting us to be who we are.

Not playing a part behind a mask, acting like something we're really not. Jesus rebukes such hypocrisy. In fact, he says, look at it, verse 5. They love to stand and pray in the synagogues and on the street corners. Why?

So that they may be seen. Wow. Look at that. Holy person. Really? That's holy?

Pray only to the Lord and have your best prayers reserved for privacy. You have a place in your home, maybe where you study, your own desk, or kind of a quiet spot for your quiet time? Great. That's the spot.

That's the place. Pour it out. Don't tell me about it. I don't need to know how long you prayed or what you said. Maybe you could say this morning you came to mind and I prayed for you. I appreciate that. That's not showing off. That's encouraging someone else that you have them on your heart.

One of my favorites. I've heard this done. Dear Lord, I've got this 78 Chevy. And you know, Lord, I've been trying to sell it. And I realize there are some people here that could give $750 for it, but maybe you'd move on their hearts to give maybe $800 so I can use it. Don't advertise in prayer.

Please. I'm being facetious, of course, but that's what this is all about. The people I've admired in my life, and there have been many, mentors who have shaped my thinking and changed my direction and rebuked me for so many things in my life. They were men whose prayer life was a private thing. One comes to mind and he doesn't know to this day that I happened to see him.

I was on the island of Okinawa and I was at the bottom, emotionally and spiritually, and I went by to see Bob Newkirk, who was the navigator representative on the island, lived in Naha. Norma came to the door and I said, Is Bob here? And she said, No, I'm sorry you missed him. It's kind of a rainy night. She said, I think he might be at his office, but I said, Well, I don't want to bother him.

She said, You know, he had a lot of things on his mind and he said he's going to shoot down there for a while. So I picked up the local jitney and took a ride over to his spot and walked through a few mud puddles and came to his little office. It's a great moment.

It was made of bamboo, so it kind of had cracks in it. I saw a candle lit inside and I heard Bob singing, Come thou fount of every blessing, To you in my heart to sing thy grace. Streams of mercy never ceasing Call for songs of loudest praise. The rain was dripping off my nose. And I heard him prone to wander, Lord, I feel it, prone to leave the God I love. It was weeping. It's the most sacred moment in that man's life.

I had the privilege of catching him in that moment. Changed my whole concept of the man. There was a depth there that I'd missed. There was a heart that he never displayed, never showed off. But I realized then what kind of man I wanted to be when I grew up. I would love it if one of my children would remember having seen her daddy pray.

And I never knew about it. It's a very special thing to do in God's way. And when you witness it, all the masks are thrown away. And you ask the Lord, give me this kind of authenticity. May I be that. May I do what's right. May I love compassion, kindness, and mercy so genuinely that when I walk with you, it's in humility. And when you pray, verse 7, don't keep repeating the same words. In fact, it says they do it thinking that they'll be heard for their many words. Elijah was bringing fire down on the altar and the prophets of Baal had tried, and they had screamed over and over and over and over and over and over and over. O Baal hear us, O Baal hear us, O Baal hear us. No fire fell. And Elijah came, he called out to the Lord God. The fire and the water consumed the altar.

All of it consumed, water and all. Give up all the extra words. Just come to him as a father. Just tell him what you need.

Pour it out in all honesty. If you want to sing to him, he loves your song. He loves to hear your heart.

He loves that you will level with him on things that you maybe would level with no one else about. That's intimacy. Those are not meaningless words.

No one will applaud them. I slipped away that night and Bob never knew I was outside his office. It would have probably been uneasy, lest I think anything but the truth. Simplicity, originality, brevity, authenticity, they all go together and they're all the things the Pharisees were not. So that's why he says in verse 8, don't go there. Now, you may have been taught by a Pharisee.

They still live, you know. You may have formed habits because your Pharisee, individual, I don't even want to give them a title, whoever that person is, you need to break that habit. Get that out of your mind.

That's not your model. You were taught wrong. This is how you do it. We'll deal with the further part on prayer and fasting next time. But don't try to look holy. Don't try to be seen. I have a friend who went to a Christian boarding school in his high school years.

True story. And he said, you know, Chuck, the thing we learned as students that there was a path where all the faculty walked on their way to class. He said, you know what, I'm going to tell you something now I would never have admitted back then. We kind of jockeyed for position to be along the path so that Dr. So-and-so or Professor So-and-so would see us as they walked by. As we're praying. They weren't praying. They were showing off. He said, I look back on that now and I'm so embarrassed I can hardly admit that we did that.

I could imagine it happening. Math teacher coming. Oh, Lord, you know how hard math has been for me these days. Pray the professor will be full of grace.

Great on a big curve. That's not prayer. If you want to say that, say it to the prof. If you want to say to the Lord, the only way I'm going to get through it is if you help me. I'm going to prepare as best I can. But I'm going to rely on you. That's how you do it. Okay, three warnings and I'm through.

Very simple. Number one, when our devotion becomes a performance, we lapse into hypocrisy. You know what? Only you know. If you are self-aware, you will know, I'll not be doing this. I'm going to stop doing this. When our devotion becomes a performance, we lapse into hypocrisy, even though we may not literally have a mask.

We're faking it. Good time for me to mention a book everybody in this place ought to read. Here it is. Paul David Tripp's dangerous calling. I don't even know Paul. But I mention his book because it's one of the best books I read last year. Paul David Tripp, dangerous calling. And I say to you who are ministers serving in whatever capacity you need to read the book, especially the chapter on familiarity.

Number two, second warning. When our giving lacks secrecy, we miss the reward of deep satisfaction. The deep feeling that we participated in a need and God has used our giving to relieve the need. There's an enormous sense of pleasure that we're rewarded with. You miss it all when you do it to be known.

Here's a third. When our praying is to impress, we fail to tap into God's power. Please don't reach for your keys and please do not leave as I read the final statement to you from Paul David Tripp.

Hear it all. I would simply ask that you deactivate your inner lawyer and consider with an open heart what I'm writing. Be so bold as to ask God to reveal in you what needs to be revealed and to give you the grace to address what needs to be addressed. And as you do these things, celebrate the grace that has been lavished on you that frees you from the burden of having to pop up your righteousness and parade it before others. Because your standing before your Lord is based on the righteousness of another. You can stand before a holy God and admit your darkest secret and own your deepest failures and be unafraid.

The one to whom you confess will not turn his back on you but will move toward you with forgiveness. Rescuing, transforming, empowering, and delivering grace. This is the good news that you and I need to preach to ourselves and to one another day after day.

Lord, this is called soul surgery and we've been through it without anesthetic and it's hurt. You've cut deeply, you've exposed reality, and for once you've found us quiet, not wanting to excuse ourselves or rationalize around it. Where we have been phony, forgive us our Father by your grace.

Where we have done things for the motive of being known and seen and impressing others, oh Lord, break the habit starting today. And by your grace, make us real, real to the core, in spite of what anyone else may say or do or think. In the name of our Savior, the most authentic one who ever lived, we pray.

Everyone said, Amen. And this concludes our three-day study in Matthew chapter 6 through a message Chuck Swindoll has titled, Beware, Religious Performance, now showing. You're listening to Insight for Living. To learn more about this ministry or these messages, please visit us online at insightworld.org. The stern warning from Jesus certainly causes us to check our motives whenever we're tempted to impress others. His rebuke is humbling to be sure, but gratefully, Jesus did far more than scold the hypocrites.

He described the antithesis of a self-centered lifestyle. Jesus taught us how to become salt and light in our culture in order to draw unbelievers toward us rather than away from us. Chuck Swindoll addresses this refreshing subject in a message called, Shake and Shine. It's a sermon for every season. No one needs to be convinced of the dangers that surround us. We inhabit a morally decaying world that's trapped in spiritual darkness.

Well, Jesus told us neither to run from it nor to embrace it, but to shake and shine our way through it. Today, our featured resource is a full-length audio message from Chuck, again called, Shake and Shine. And you can purchase a copy on CD or MP3 right now by calling us.

If you're listening in the U.S., dial 1-800-772-8888 or go to insight.org slash store. In addition to purchasing the message, we invite you to join us in this mission to bring the hope of Christ to all 195 countries of the world. Your donations are needed and deeply appreciated. We couldn't possibly provide Chuck's daily teaching without the financial support of listeners like you. To give a donation, call us. If you're listening in the United States, dial 1-800-772-8888.

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That's next time on Insight for Living. The preceding message, Beware Religious Performance Now Showing, was copyrighted in 2015 and 2021. And the sound recording was copyrighted in 2021 by Charles R. Swindoll, Inc. All rights are reserved worldwide. Duplication of copyrighted material for commercial use is strictly prohibited.